Allen Iverson was one of the most entertaining players ever — a fearless game, a guy barely six foot and thin who would fearlessly drive into the trees of the NBA forest and come out with buckets.

He was a vanguard of change in NBA, embracing hip-hop culture (or however you wish to define that term) but what made it work was his mad game. He was fun to watch, a guy who could take over games with energy and will.

Man, there are a lot of similarities. Unbelievable quickness with the ball, ability to finish around the basket, scorer’s mentality, a certain mental toughness and competitiveness about the game. I think Allen is a little more explosive at the same stage in his career. He was a guy that, even though he was 6-0, he could jump two feet above the rim! Brandon can dunk the ball and he has good athleticism, but he doesn’t have THAT sort of athleticism. As far as quickness and guts, he’s right there will Allen Iverson in those departments.

What will be interesting to see is how Jennings game develops, and if he becomes more of a scorer first as his NBA career moves on.

Last season, 29.6 percent of the possessions Jennings used ended up with an assist, a very good percentage for a point guard. (Note: that is not possessions where he touched the ball but ones where he was involved in finishing the play.) We think of Iverson as a scorer, but his first two years in the NBA his assist percentages were 33.6 and 30.6. The scoring mentality we associate with Iverson came later (and he still had some very good passing numbers, he is better at setting up teammates than he gets credit for).

Will Jennings become more of a scorer as he moves on, or stay more pure point guard? We will see.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.